Distro Fighter — Stats & Analytics

▣ DISTRO FIGHTER · STATS

live analytics from 31,498 plays · anonymous, aggregate only

‹ HOME 🗺️ campaign stats & the Hall of the Reckoning →

31,498

total plays

145

today

1,209

this week

20,903

unique visitors

26.8%

went to round 2

4,774

desktop-only runs

🏆 LEADERBOARDS — most-recommended

DISTROS

Linux Mint2018 7.6%

Fedora1951 7.3%

Ubuntu1651 6.2%

Nobara1639 6.1%

Arch Linux1532 5.7%

NixOS1483 5.5%

Pop!_OS1376 5.1%

Bazzite1320 4.9%

Xubuntu1314 4.9%

Zorin OS1276 4.8%

MX Linux1205 4.5%

Artix1082 4.0%

Debian1041 3.9%

Lubuntu953 3.6%

elementary OS947 3.5%

Manjaro773 2.9%

CachyOS710 2.7%

Fedora Atomic666 2.5%

Kubuntu605 2.3%

Void Linux550 2.1%

EndeavourOS461 1.7%

Gentoo408 1.5%

openSUSE TW378 1.4%

Vanilla OS253 0.9%

Kali Linux236 0.9%

antiX215 0.8%

Solus170 0.6%

Alpine146 0.5%

Garuda121 0.5%

Parrot OS103 0.4%

openSUSE Leap88 0.3%

Slackware53 0.2%

Desktops (DEs & WMs)

Xfce2924 18.7%

KDE Plasma2741 17.5%

GNOME1909 12.2%

Hyprland1687 10.8%

LXQt1070 6.8%

Sway960 6.1%

Pantheon907 5.8%

Qtile880 5.6%

COSMIC823 5.3%

Cinnamon499 3.2%

i3wm351 2.2%

MATE334 2.1%

awesome325 2.1%

Budgie130 0.8%

Deepin65 0.4%

Openbox56 0.4%

⭐ THE PEOPLE'S CHOICE — most-backed fighters
(who players pick to win · feature added Jul 2026)

The leaderboards up top show what Distro Fighter recommends. This shows what the players root for: in the final rounds you can back the fighter you think will take the crown, and this counts how often each distro and desktop gets picked.

Hearts vs. results — the crowd favorites, right next to the machine's picks.

MOST-BACKED DISTROS

Fedora219 14.0%

Arch Linux186 11.9%

Linux Mint146 9.3%

CachyOS145 9.2%

NixOS90 5.7%

Debian79 5.0%

Gentoo69 4.4%

Bazzite68 4.3%

Ubuntu58 3.7%

Void Linux48 3.1%

Nobara44 2.8%

Kubuntu42 2.7%

Pop!_OS42 2.7%

EndeavourOS35 2.2%

Artix33 2.1%

Zorin OS33 2.1%

Fedora Atomic32 2.0%

openSUSE TW31 2.0%

Manjaro24 1.5%

elementary OS19 1.2%

Alpine17 1.1%

MX Linux16 1.0%

Slackware16 1.0%

Xubuntu16 1.0%

Solus12 0.8%

antiX9 0.6%

Kali Linux9 0.6%

Lubuntu9 0.6%

Vanilla OS9 0.6%

Garuda6 0.4%

openSUSE Leap4 0.3%

Parrot OS3 0.2%

MOST-BACKED DESKTOPS

KDE Plasma185 39.4%

Hyprland87 18.5%

Sway52 11.1%

GNOME37 7.9%

Xfce29 6.2%

Cinnamon20 4.3%

i3wm18 3.8%

COSMIC15 3.2%

Qtile8 1.7%

LXQt7 1.5%

awesome6 1.3%

Budgie2 0.4%

Openbox2 0.4%

MATE1 0.2%

Pantheon1 0.2%

🔎 WHO PICKS WHAT — top distro by answer

By experience level

How would you rate your Linux experience level?

New to itZorin OS (854) · Linux Mint (785) · Lubuntu (508)

Comfortable enoughFedora (1644) · Ubuntu (1494) · Nobara (1421)

I live in the terminalArch Linux (1396) · NixOS (1188) · Debian (914)

By primary use

What's this machine mainly for?

Everyday desktop / officeUbuntu (1547) · Pop!_OS (1235) · Linux Mint (1049)

GamingNobara (1585) · Bazzite (1226) · Fedora (999)

Dev / server workArch Linux (914) · Fedora (863) · NixOS (843)

Security / pentestingKali Linux (236) · Parrot OS (88) · Gentoo (10)

By hardware

What's the hardware like?

Old / low-specXubuntu (1298) · Lubuntu (953) · MX Linux (592)

Modern / plenty of powerLinux Mint (1929) · Fedora (1916) · Ubuntu (1645)

By how much they tinker

How much do you want to tinker?

It should just workZorin OS (1276) · elementary OS (536) · Bazzite (530)

Some control is niceLinux Mint (1874) · Fedora (1562) · Nobara (1473)

Total control, I'll build it upArch Linux (1532) · NixOS (1055) · Artix (760)

📊 AUDIENCE — answer distribution (round 1)

Q1

How would you rate your Linux experience level?

New to it4031 15.1%

Comfortable enough13068 48.9%

I live in the terminal9625 36.0%

Q2

What's this machine mainly for?

Everyday desktop / office11502 43.0%

Gaming9275 34.7%

Dev / server work5598 20.9%

Security / pentesting349 1.3%

Q3

Software: fresh or stable?

Rock-solid, don't care if it's old3230 12.1%

A sensible balance15019 56.2%

Newest, bleeding-edge8475 31.7%

Q4

What's the hardware like?

Old / low-spec5838 21.8%

Modern / plenty of power20886 78.2%

Q5

How much do you want to tinker?

It should just work4654 17.4%

Some control is nice14551 54.4%

Total control, I'll build it up7519 28.1%

Q6

What kind of distro suits you?

Easy & familiar — built for Windows switchers4948 18.5%

Polished & design-first (Mac-like)4081 15.3%

Lean & no-nonsense14301 53.5%

Gaming-ready out of the box3394 12.7%

Q7

Init system — any preference?

systemd is fine, or no preference23039 86.2%

I'd rather avoid systemd3685 13.8%

Q8

System style?

Traditional — a normal, editable system22889 85.6%

Immutable / atomic — locked base, easy rollbacks3835 14.4%

📊 AUDIENCE — answer distribution (round 2 desktop)

D1

How do you like to move between tasks?

One desktop, click around (Windows/Mac style)6383 47.9%

Fast workspace switching (~one app per screen)2234 16.8%

Tile everything, keyboard-driven3325 24.9%

D2

Resource budget for the desktop?

Feather-light, every MB counts2719 20.4%

Balanced6418 48.1%

Loaded machine — bring the eye-candy2805 21.0%

D3

How much setup are you up for?

Perfect out of the box2192 16.4%

A little config is fine7192 53.9%

I'll build it from a blank canvas2558 19.2%

D4

Preferred look?

Classic & functional3412 25.6%

Sleek & modern6364 47.7%

Bare & minimal2166 16.2%

D5

Display server?

Mature & rock-solid (X11)2133 16.0%

Modern (Wayland), rough edges OK8737 65.5%

No preference (either works)1072 8.0%

📈 USAGE — plays per day (last 30)

← back to the game